Storms Texas

Tropical Storm Dean whipped the Texas coast with 45-m.p.h. winds and much-needed rain Sunday after picking up some punch in the Gulf of Mexico. Dean later was downgraded to a tropical depression when its winds dropped below 39 m.p.h. The storm spawned at least one tornado in Cameron Parish, La., in the southwestern part of the state, authorities said. No damage was immediately reported.

Even by Texas standards the dark, dense, 8,000-foot-high behemoth of a dust storm that enveloped Lubbock had folks making comparisons Tuesday to the great Dust Bowl of the 1930s. It was "Steinbeck-ish in its arrival," said 71-year-old Paul Beane, a Lubbock city councilman, who watched the storm roll in Monday evening from his front porch. "I expected at any moment to see a line of Model Ts coming through headed to California. It really did look like pictures I had seen of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Violent thunderstorms roared across northern Texas for the second time in two weeks Wednesday, flooding roads, forcing scores to evacuate and killing three people. Some areas got up to 7 inches of rain in 24 hours. Forecasters said the heavy rain and flooding would continue through this morning. The storms snarled traffic throughout the Dallas-Ft. Worth area late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Edouard was expected to strengthen to a near-hurricane before making landfall somewhere in Texas on Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for the coasts of western Louisiana and eastern Texas, meaning that hurricane conditions were possible in the next 24 hours. Edouard is the fifth tropical storm of the 2008 hurricane season.

Transformed from a lashing hurricane to a sullen, roaming deluge, Tropical Storm Bret dumped more than 25 inches of rain in South Texas and kept thousands from their homes Monday as it made its way slowly west-northwest toward Mexico. The biggest hurricane to strike the state in two decades, Bret spent much of its strength inundating a vast South Texas ranch. The storm also spawned a tornado that demolished a mobile home between Rockport and Aransas Pass.

A downtown department store in this border city collapsed during a torrential rainstorm Thursday, killing at least eight people and injuring more than 40 others, officials said. And as night fell, hundreds of volunteers worked to sift their way through the dense pile of rubble, searching for those who might still be alive beneath the wreckage. Sgt. Dean Poos, a spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department, said he believed the death toll could climb to as high as 20.

Lashing winds Thursday damaged the altar built for Pope John Paul II's scheduled appearance and toppled twin 12-story metal towers skirting the stage, authorities said. "It looks like a twisted hunk of metal out there," said Richard Hemberger, a spokesman for the San Antonio archdiocese. No one was injured in the collapse, he said. Hemberger said the towers cannot be rebuilt in time for the Mass Sunday.

Thunderstorms moved through North Texas with winds up to 70 mph Friday, causing damage estimated in the millions of dollars at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Three people died in traffic accidents. A 16-year-old girl died when her car hydroplaned on Texas 155 near Tyler and skidded into an 18-wheeler, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Tropical Storm Allison, the first named system in the Atlantic hurricane season, took slow aim at the southeast Texas coast. The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning for a 280-mile-long stretch of coastline from Sargent, Texas, to Morgan City in southwestern Louisiana. The storm, with sustained winds of up to 60 mph, was stalled about 60 miles south-southwest of Galveston. Forecasters warned of gusty winds and heavy rains.

Tropical Storm Earl, so vast it nearly filled the Gulf of Mexico, was expected to explode into a hurricane and hit the Louisiana and Texas coasts. Earl was centered about 190 miles south-southwest of New Orleans was expected to reach hurricane strength by the time it hits land. Evacuations of Louisiana's coastal areas had started, and a state of emergency was declared.

Tetanus worries, hordes of mosquitoes and well water contaminated with E. coli spurred health officials to action in the watery aftermath of Tropical Storm Allison. So far, potential outbreaks have been avoided. The city health department had administered 7,800 tetanus shots to residents with wounds who trudged through flood waters contaminated with sewage. Mosquitoes, whose populations boomed in the watery stew, can spread encephalitis and other viruses to humans.

Tropical Storm Allison, which killed at least 18 people in Texas and Louisiana, may also have had a serious effect on medical research. Flooding at the Texas Medical Center south of Houston killed at least 32,500 research animals, mostly mice and rats. Their loss, along with the destruction of scientific records and lab specimens, will put a big dent in international medical research, said Dr. Ralph D. Feigin, president of the Baylor College of Medicine.

They worked all night and all day in the shadow of downtown skyscrapers, pumping pools of filthy flood water from beneath the concrete heart of downtown even as clearing skies unmasked a broiling sun. Banks, hospitals and office buildings remained dark and empty Monday, water sloshing in the deep underground complexes below. In the end, it was the basements that crippled this city of swamps, bayous and gulf storms.

Tropical Storm Allison, the first named system in the Atlantic hurricane season, took slow aim at the southeast Texas coast. The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm warning for a 280-mile-long stretch of coastline from Sargent, Texas, to Morgan City in southwestern Louisiana. The storm, with sustained winds of up to 60 mph, was stalled about 60 miles south-southwest of Galveston. Forecasters warned of gusty winds and heavy rains.

Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes downed power lines and damaged homes and buildings Saturday in Texas and Arkansas, where authorities said several people were injured. To the north, ice-covered roads resulted in dozens of wrecks. A truck that skidded off a highway in Rock County, Wis., overturned, killing the driver. Tornadoes touched down in several places in central Arkansas late in the afternoon, the National Weather Service said. Ira Akins, 75, a College Station, Ark.

Tens of thousands of people shivered without heat again Friday, nearly a week after a Christmas ice storm devastated parts of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. From 750,000 to as many as 1 million people--at least a quarter of Arkansas' population--lost power after the storm, Gov. Mike Huckabee said as he looked at street after street littered with splintered, ice-caked trees. About 135,000 homes and businesses remained in the dark Friday. "We've never had a storm like this," Huckabee said.

Relentless thunderstorms have rumbled across Central Texas for more than two days, causing severe flooding that has been blamed for the deaths of five people. Widespread rains were expected to continue through the weekend, prompting the National Weather Service to keep the region under a flash flood warning. Austin had received 2.59 inches of rain since Friday evening, while Waco had been drenched with 3.22 inches and San Antonio got 3.63 inches, the service reported. The heaviest was 5.

Storms with hail as big as softballs and winds above 70 m.p.h. swept through northern Texas on Friday night, injuring close to 100 people, damaging buildings and cars, and cutting power at an airport. As many as 40 flights were diverted en route to Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, where power to an American Airlines terminal went out briefly during the height of the storm. "There was a power pause, but no real interruption," said Marion Deesisto, a spokeswoman for American.

Relentless thunderstorms have rumbled across Central Texas for more than two days, causing severe flooding that has been blamed for the deaths of five people. Widespread rains were expected to continue through the weekend, prompting the National Weather Service to keep the region under a flash flood warning. Austin had received 2.59 inches of rain since Friday evening, while Waco had been drenched with 3.22 inches and San Antonio got 3.63 inches, the service reported. The heaviest was 5.

After the tornado--the winds of 113 mph that howled through Fort Worth last month--at last there fell a silence. Silence, and a gently gliding drift of paper, liberated from a thousand desks. Wills and tax forms, checks and FBI files, the papers flying from tornado-ruined offices were lifeblood for some businesses and agencies. For others, though, the drifting documents meant just a hitch in work that really takes place electronically--and resumed a few hours later.